Mutative effects of cigarette smoke on flies

[smiley612]

Hello, I am a junior in high school and am interested in researching the mutations of flies when exposed to cigarette smoke and if the amount of mutations will decrease if they are placed in an environment with plants. I want to test if plants will take in effects of cigarette smoke to prevent mutations. My questions are: Does the set up need to be sealed? How would i leave room for the flies to breath while keeping enough the smoke in the container for the flies to breathe in? Is this a feasible project? I am also worried if just the presence of cigarette smoke would be enough to induce mutations. Please send me your thoughts. Thank You.

[MelissaB]

Hi,

While I think you have a good idea, I think that there are numerous safety issues associated with using cigarettes in a science fair project. To my knowledge, most science fairs do not allow students to use cigarettes in their experiments due to problems with second-hand smoke, etc. Please speak to your teacher and your science fair committee about this.

If you were to use a different mutagen, I might consider testing bacteria for antibiotic-resistant mutations; I am not sure if flies will give you enough mutations to work with. Bacteria also do not require as much oxygen as flies, so sealing the containers for a day or two should not be a problem (but putting plants in might).

[deleted-71615]

A similar project won first place in the Addiction Science Award at Intel ISEF Competition 2009. http://www.nih.gov/news/health/may2009/nida-15a.htm The project did not take into account whether plant can offset the effect of cigarette.

Michael